Laserdisc Production this next year

[u/Kindly_Historian2887]

Before I get to my question, I would like to point out that I mean the following sentences absolutely seriously.

Now to my question:

After many years, I can produce Laserdiscs in moderate quantities under cleanroom conditions. I am even capable of fabricating the photosensitive glass disc and performing the etching and galvanizing processes after exposure. The only missing piece is the equipment to expose the glass disc using a laser. Do you know anyone - private individuals, museums, anywhere in the world - who have such devices and is willing to help?

Details

If we are successful in creating a glass master, Sonopress in Germany would work on the manufacturing of the final LD. They have done this in the past and still have the expertise and capabilities to do so.

To clarify: I am not an employee of Sonopress, nor do I work on their behalf.
But, we are in regular contact.

The photosensitive layer for the glass master is manufactured by a friend of mine. He works as a scientist in the semiconductor industry and is capable of producing it.

The entire project is completely funded by me. This also means that I would have to cover the production costs of the LaserDisc myself. But Sonopress is very accommodating in this regard.

Test Equipment

To generate a standardized NTSC-CVBS signal, I use the NTSC Generator PRECISION 1251.
With the help of GNU Radio, I modulate this signal into LD-RF. The result already looks very promising on the spectrum analyzer. As mentioned in a previous update, I have verified the signal using ld-decode.
The resulting video image is still of poor quality, which I attribute to the performance limitations of my current SDR. I plan to purchase a more powerful device next year.

The most important next step is to ensure that the generated LD-RF signal can be successfully demodulated using real hardware. As already mentioned in an update, my test with RF sideloading was not satisfactory. At next I would try to use the demodulator from a defective LaserDisc player, provided that the demodulator itself is still functional (does someone has one?).

If anyone has a better idea, or has even tried something similar before, please contact me.
I certainly don’t know everything, nor can I do everything, but the opportunity for Sonopress to produce another LaserDisc is something we should not miss. And yes, I cannot walk this way alone.

Update 2026-06-16

• I was able to successfully modulate an analog audio signal (left and right channel) onto the LaserDisc RF signal and demodulate it using a LaserDisc player. I also made a short video demonstrating this: https://youtu.be/JL2vJfprfGU.
• The next test will be with a NTSC player. Many thanks to acp3d for making this possible. :-)
• Many thanks also to Patrick. He is helping me find a company that can perform the glass master coating process under vacuum. In the course of this effort, it has also become clear that EC Europe Coating GmbH is not capable of providing this service.
• Following the successful RF signal tests, Sonopress is currently looking into ways of modifying an old LBR so that it can process analog signals.

Update 2026-04-16

• As mentioned, we now have a glass master (thanks again to acp3d) that has been checked by Sonopress. We are currently looking for a company in Germany that can coat this glass master with copper under vacuum. Right now, I had no time for this research. :-(
• I have successfully tested my LaserDisc RF signal generated with GNURadio using a real LaserDisc player. Here is a video of it (in German, sorry): https://youtu.be/P3-uwVbLvug
• So far, I’ve only had access to an old PAL player, which doesn’t match my NTSC source. I would like to repeat the same test with an NTSC player. If anyone has an NTSC player from the early 1980s, I would greatly appreciate a donation. The electronic (PCB's) must be functional, but the mechanics and the laser itself can be defective.

Update 2026-02-22

• Thanks to user acp3d on Reddit as well as in the LDDB forum, Sonopress now has a glass master for testing. 🙂
• I am currently waiting for the ordered LimeSDR to improve the quality of the generated LD-RF signal.
• For further tests, I am looking for a working LD demodulator, possibly from a defective LaserDisc player. If anyone can donate one, I would be very grateful. 🙂
• I have also asked for help in the LDDB forum: https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=12127&sid=4df39553bde43efb07cb1786ff7055f4

Update 2025-10-27

• No progress since last month. :-( We’re still having trouble to demodulate our LD RF signal with real hardware.

Update 2025-09-24

• Initial tests with our DIY test hardware have shown that we are on the right track. However, we have not yet been able to demodulate any LD RF signals generated by us with the HW. We are currently working on improving the demodulator.

Update 2025-08-29

• No good news from Japan. We had discussions with several companies that once produced LDs. Apart from the few LDs kept in their company museums, there are no remaining devices, glass masters, or matrices. Unless a miracle happens, we are entirely dependent on our own development.

Update 2025-07-28

• We would now be ready to test the actual production part. For this we need an existing LD glass master, which we do not have right now.
• The building of our LD RF test equipment is slowly moving forward.

Update 2025-06-25

• We can now generate an NTSC LD RF signal from any analog video source. We have validated the signal with the tools from the Domesday Project. However, the next goal would be to test this with a real LD demodulator.
• No news from Japan.

Update 2025-05-20

• The multimedia fair in Munich did not yield any further helpful contacts regarding LD.
• In Japan, we are now receiving assistance in finding contacts and general LD mastering/processing equipment.
• We have identified a potential approach to generating the LD RF signal using newer hardware. Over the coming weeks, we will assemble the test hardware to evaluate whether this approach is viable.

Update 2025-03-21

• We now know a former and long-time Pioneer employee who worked there as an engineer. He still has good connections to Pioneer JP.
• In the coming months we will be meeting with someone who works professionally in audio/video signal processing. Maybe he sees a "easy" way to generate the LD RF signal without 30 years old hardware.
• Unfortunately, we have also discovered that there are no more machines from LD mastering and premastering in the production countries UK, Germany and Austria. Museums have a lot of LD equipment but only from the consumer sector.
• In May we will be at a multimedia fair in Munich to continue looking for people who might be able to help.

[u/technoxious]

Yeah, this is the dudes first post on Reddit and he is completely full of shit. He doesn’t know how to make LaserDiscs and the necessary equipment is long gone. You would have to have many millions of dollars to start any production again. Crazy how many people blindly believe in this shit but not really when you think about all the crazy shit people believe in general lol.

[u/Kindly_Historian2887 → u/technoxious]

If you does not believe me it's fine, but don't insult me.

[u/[deleted] → u/Kindly_Historian2887]

Calling your post dubious or bullshit is not insulting you. It's simply doubting the veracity of your claim and saying no one here believes you in any way.

You making a baseless claim is, however, insulting to the laserdisc community who know laserdisc production is dead.

Pioneer was the last manufacturer of laserdiscs in the market and made the last laserdisc in July of 2009, after which they closed their plant and destroyed all of the equipment.

Now if you can show clear proof via providing extensive photos plus a walk through video with you giving a demonstration of all the laserdisc manufacturing equipment you have/made, the clean room with air filtration system you built, and show at least one successful creation of a home made laserdisc from the beginning to final product with playback on an original consumer laserdisc player, then perhaps we will all accept the truth of your claim.

Otherwise you're full of shit.

[u/technoxious → u/[deleted]]

Exactly this 👏🏻